Breadcrumbs
Robin was livid.
Therefore, the other Titans wisely gave the young man his distance as the thoroughly enraged super-hero read and re-read Red X's little one-liner, addressed specifically and solely for him. Commissioner Jones also had the tact to keep his mouth shut, merely standing there with his doughnut and his mug of black coffee grounds. However, he didslurp noisily, not bothering to hide his pleasure in the young vigilante's frustration. Oddly enough, he found this whole thing pretty funny by this point. A thief playing hero and a hero chasing the thief who chased the murderer.
Or that's how it looked to him.
Robin suddenly crunched the paper and began tearing it into little pieces; Jones stepped away from the teenager, deciding for the sake of his good health he'd best keep his distance. He, Robin that is,turned to the police station and stomped inside, snarling at Jones that he wanted to know which cell Killer Moth and Kitten were in. The man hesitated, concerned for a moment as to what the irrational young man just might do in his rage. Obviously he didn't like having a mocking note stuffed down his throat like a bitter medicine, but Jones hoped he had the sense not to go stampeding through the cell block beating felons as he went.
"Interrogation room B," he replied disapprovingly. "You should probably wait until…"
But the Titan was already storming down the hall, lights exploding and flickering ominously in the wake of his passing, plants shriveling, wall-paper stripping from the cheap stucco, while a chorus of demons serenaded his path so dark and furious was his aura…or that's how it seemed anyway. The other Titans peered cautiously around the door frame after their leader, obviously somewhat concerned for their spiky-haired friend. Jones, similarly hiding behind the door, exchanged looks with them and Beast Boy coughed.
"We should probably follow him…make sure he doesn't hurt someone," he remarked nervously.
Starfire had already taken off after the caped crusader, calling his name and flying down the hall in pursuit of the raging Boy Wonder. Beast Boy glanced inquiringly at Raven who gave him the 'I'm-supposed-to-be-an-emotionless-witch-girl-so-don't-ask-me' look. Or this might have been the result of her anger at Robin for taking off after X on his own with some half-assed story about 'quick run through such-and-such alley'. When selected to search the city with Robin, she had not appreciate getting dropped like a bar of soap so he could go play angsty vigilante and gallivant after Red X on his own.
Jones stuffed the remainder of his doughnut into his mouth and motioned for them to follow him. They complied and he guided them to the darkened room adjoined to interrogation room B.
Beast Boy immediately squealed something like 'Sweet! I always wanted to see one of these things!' and pressed his face against the one-way glass. Raven cleared her throat, trying not to look embarrassed for the changeling. Jones grinned smirkily at her and she glowered, crossing the room and folding her arms over her breasts and watching the scene from the opposite side of the glass.
Several police officers paced either side of Killer Moth, obviously using the Good Cop, Bad Cop routine on the highly amused villian. The mad man didn't seem phased by their threats; indeed, he actually had a slight grin on his face. Large strips of what looked like industrial strength fly-paper had been coiled about the base of his wings and his powerful arms clamped in heavy duty iron arm cuffs. Despite this he still looked wholly confident. Apparently the mere mortal attempts of the local law enforcement didn't bother the moth-man in the slightest.
"They've been questioning him for some time. He's like a giant fuzzy rock. He won't budge on anything," Jones remarked as Robin opened the door and motioned for the officers to get lost. "He can't deny the giant mutant earth worms, but he refuses to say anything about why Red X brought him in or remark on the instructions to interrogate him. Kitten's no better, if not worse."
Robin had his hands planted on the table next to the giant moth-man, his mouth moving slightly as he whispered something to Killer Moth alone. Raven glanced at the Commissioner, her voice velvety, even and oddly mature.
"I don't think you know Robin very well."
The man looked like he might have snorted, but choked it off before he had to eat his words. Killer Moth had buried his face in the arms, bawling on the table top and apparently spilling everything to the glowering Teen Titan next to him. Robin folded his arms and glanced up at the glass as if aware people watched, still glowering. Beast Boy and Raven both inclined their heads at the adult with equally smirky kind of expressions. They didn't need to say 'told yu' so' to get the point across. Jones glowered into his coffee mug.
He really hated kids.
-heist-
Red X dropped through the skylight of a large tech factory, the roaring and banging sound of steel pistons smothering any noise the professional thief might have made. He landed on the spindly metal walkway suspended over the roaring, thundering machines, revolving metal arms, assembly line conveyer belts and vats of steaming chemical run off. He doubted that anything he did would get detected in this mess and ghosted across the metal path toward a steep flight of stairs.
He jumped them three at a time and jogged to a halt at the foot of them, blinking around the giant, crowded room of mechanical chaos. Steely chrome droids and pre-programmed robots whizzed from job to job with inhuman proficiency. Sparks spilled from a welding bot overhead and X moved away as the yellow shower of heat fell over his shoulders. Glaring somewhat testily up at the thing he moved on. He knew somewhere amid these automated factory workers at least one of them had a pulse in place of a battery pack.
Just one…
He eyed flitted around the various identical robots.
But which one?
Suddenly a sleek metal figure stepped from the darkness to his right, just on the opposite side of the conveyer belt. The figure in the light took a slim and certainly delicate looking feminine physique, though X knew from experience she could bench a small forklift. Her skin shone brilliantly silver metal, hair falling down her narrow back in a long mettalic sheet. But though the body had all alloy skin from the neck down and she wore what looked like fitted body armor, the face that looked back at him was human.
Large, royal blue eyes deep as faceted jewels stared soberly from a smooth-skinned complexion. When she spoke, her lips moved over very white almost bleached teeth.
"Bannon," she said in a soft, throaty voice. One could almost ignore the static as her mechanized vocal chords produced the sound. "I told you I do not wish to remove you from my factory again. I might hurt you and I would feel most regretful."
He smiled at her and took a seat on a large, humming box that rather looked like a washing machine. "You mean you'd miss me?"
"I suppose," she replied. "Why are you here? If you wish to steal something, I will have to throw you out."
She didn't look keen on the idea, but those blue eyes could get deadly fierce when what she protected was threatened. Red X didn't want to try tangling with her sleek, unbreakable skin and wicked fast reflexes. Her name, he knew from a couple old news headlines, had once been Wren De'Marke. She lived originally in Europe and hopped a boat to the USA illegally at sixteen. Unfortunately she was caught in a deadly fire that burned almost ninety percent of her skin from her body and ruined much of her muscle sinew.
A foreign entrepreneur who'd recently taken up residence in the United States took pity up on her…The name of that enterprising man: Alex Sasaki. Red X (or Bannon to be more correct) had met her during one of his father's pompously broadcasted 'personal' visits to Wren's hospital room. There he blustered and chatted far too animatedly to the somber looking girl, while introducing a very peeved Bannon, who tried his best to evade the camera…they'd always put him off even before he went criminal.
He remembered it vaguely, yet it had never fully faded from his memory, sticking with him after five years:
He stood in a corner of the hospital room, hating the bleached, sterilized sensation of cleanliness used to hide the sickness, the death, and the wounds of those who resided there. Alex Sasaki was off on a loud and pretentious rant about how he cared so deeply for Wren's welfare and how it did him proud to see her up and about, like a daughter, really, he was so proud. Then he glanced (subtly, oh so subtly) at his watch and made an exit. Bannon stood there, alone, loathing everything about his outing and wishing he were sitting at home in his garage.
After his father left, Bannon stuck around (mostly to avoid the cameras following his old man). The girl in the bed gave him a cool look, deep blue eyes pulling the younger teen's cat-like gaze into her infinite navy blue pools. Intelligence gleamed out at him from that pale face, more then he expected from the poor, burned foreign girl.
"You don't have to stay on my account," she said.
"I'm not. But I would if it doesn't bother you," he replied.
"It doesn't. I hate the cameras too."
Their relationship took off from there.
The operation left her voice mechanical, her skin metal, and part of her spinal cord and brain full of nano-technology. At first she'd thought she'd been totally saved…until her emotions began to fade from her facial features. The muscles in her face ceased to function properly for anything other than speaking, blinking and the slightest of eyebrow movement. Her aging process ceased as well, metal skin unable to age and the brain trauma stopping her hormonal glands from functioning.
Soon she faded from the human world and chose to associate herself with the machines she could now hear via the technology in her brain. To her computers and robots she was program alphasilver.34… To Red X she was Wren and to Wren…he was Bannon.
"I know that you can hear all the communications that pass through air and land-line," he said anxiously. "I was wondering…"
"There is a young man," Wren interrupted. "I did not think at first he spoke of you because he said the thief he spoke of killed someone. I know you do not kill. But he said that you killed a man. This concerns me." Her blue eyes looked very wide from where he stood, almost emotional, though she hadn't had the ability to show emotion for over ten years.
Red X shook his head. "I didn't kill anyone. I've been framed so I'm trying to catch the real deal. Understand, Wren?"
"Yes. I am at ease," she replied, looking expressionless as usual. "I have overheard through net conversations men speaking about you. One voice in particular I keep hearing, asking everyone about you. He asks about your criminal records, your MO's, your age, your habits, how you seem to think, who you are and many other things. He has collected quite a large compilation of data on you."
He felt sick, inches from puking at these words. "Does…does he know-,"
"I am not certain he knows your identity. He cannot know of my existence and I am I only one who knows your true identity, save your old mentor. Correct?" She could have passed for a computer program, but she'd taken to talking like this after years of very precise voice commands to her beloved machines. He nodded mutely. "Very good. Then he cannot know who you are. However, I think he has a very thorough psychoanalysis of your person. He knows you are both a kleptomaniac and suffer mildly from paranoid schizophrenia. I also suspect he knows of your recent insomnia."
Red X felt like melting into a dirty little puddle on the ground as his friend coolly announced she too knew he was partially insane. He glowered at her, twiddling his thumbs. "It's not actually that bad. Only sounds awful when you say it like that."
"I do not see it bad or good either way. You are you and most Americans suffer some form of obsessive compulsive disorders, anyway. You are not so different."
"I'm an international thief."
"So you are different in that way. Not so different any other way."
He liked Wren's logic. "So can you give me any clue as to who the man asking all these questions is? I have a guess, but I'd like you to tell me what you think before I tell you."
Wren cocked her head like she was listening to something through all the roaring din of the machines around her. "He always insists to those he speaks with not to call him by name. He is a very wary man. He suspects that a creature like I exists and is tapping all lines and frequencies, but I am not a priority I don't think. I'm not fond of police and radio noise often bothers me."
"So no?" X clarified; rather worried that Blockbuster might suspect Wren even existed. Not even the Titans knew about her but since she technically was a runaway and illegal inhabitant of the US she didn't feel like making their acquaintance.
"No. I am sorry."
"It's okay. Just keep a low profile. I'll find out who it is. Any idea where they broadcast from?"
"Untraceable," she said promptly.
X blew air through his lips in exasperation. "Fine. Thanks, Wren. It really helps. It was good to see you. I won't bother you for a bit." He leapt up the stairs, bounding up the steep flight and making to teleport through the still open skylight.
"Wait."
He stopped.
Wren stepped forward, deep blue eyes on him. "He is…planning something of the sinister nature for you. He would like to catch you. He wants to hurt you, Red X. I want you to exercise your most complex of defenses because I think he seeks to terminate your existence. I hear him speak fondly of killing and he is most upset with you." She paused; then went on. "He has a great power at his disposal. I think he knows that you are coming and I think that he will…"
"Terminate me?" Red X said with a grin. "Don't worry. I had that much figured out already."
"Then you can defend yourself? You are properly prepared?" she asked sharply.
"Maybe."
"Not good enough. You cannot proceed."
Red X smiled rather wickedly though she couldn't see it. "Wren, love, life isn't one-hundred percent all the time. That's what makes it fun." She didn't seem happy with this logic, but spoke anyway.
"Then speak with the ones called Jinx and Gizmo. They have returned from Steel City on their master's orders. They should know more of this man's whereabouts. Brother Blood has rented their abilities to the man who seeks your termination. Find them and you shall find him. It sounds like they are seeking to break into Soto Labs. They've tripped the alarms on the second floor so you'd best be quick before the Titans get there."
But Red X had already taken off through the window.
-heist-
